Whisby Wellsite
Non-Technical Summary of
Site Operation
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Blackland Park Exploration Limited
Form C.2 5c Non-technical summary
Your summary
Blackland Park Exploration Limited operates a number of onshore oil wells abstracting crude oil from a
natural underground reservoir for export from site to an oil refinery.
The extraction and handling of crude oil from natural underground reservoir is a listed activity under
section 1.2, Part A(1)(h)(i) of the Environmental Permitting Regulations (England & Wales) 2010. The
process involves the extraction and handling of crude oil from an oil bearing reservoir, physical separation
of inherent natural gas & “produced water” and temporary storage of crude oil and produced water on
site prior to transfer to road tankers and transport to a refinery. Natural gas associated with the
extraction and handling of crude oil is beneficially used at the installation as a fuel for the crude oil heater.
This application is for the re permitting exercise for the existing PPC Permit SP3930MK for Whisby well
site A. The existing installation is currently permitted to operate a number of wells, and currently has two
operational, Well 4 and Well 6. The site has three further wells on the site; Well 2 is used for the reinjection of produced water from separation process and Well 1 which was previously redundant and
Well 5 which is currently not in production. :
The installation is located to the North-East of Eagle Moor near Lincoln, Lincolnshire. The centre of the
Whisby Well Site A installation is at National Grid Reference 489280, 368750 and occupies an area of
land of approximately 1.2 Hectares.
Oil is extracted from wells using a pumping system referred to as a “nodding donkey” or “Beam Pump”.
The oil passes through a heater treater system to aid the separation process of natural gas and produced
water from the Live Crude Oil.
From the heater treater the live crude oil passes into a three phase separator where by natural gas is
separated and transferred via knock out pots to the process heater where it is used as a primary fuel.
Produced water within the three-phase separate settles at the bottom of the vessel where it is drawn off
under liquid level control to a dedicated produced water tank, where the contents are temporarily stored
prior to re-processing or re-injection into the oil bearing reservoir. Crude oil within the separation unit
will pass over a weir and drawn off for storage within dedicated crude oil storage tanks, where the
contents are temporarily stored prior to transfer via road tankers to an oil refinery for further processing.
There are no production waste waters from the installation that discharge to surface water, groundwater
or foul sewer.
Emissions from the installation have been assessed in accordance with PPC Technical Guidance Note
H1. The outcome of the assessment is that at the level of emissions resulting from the oil production
there will not be a breach of either human health or environmental quality standards.
The installation has minimal pollution potential regarding chemical use and storage. Production and
storage areas, including the Nodding Donkeys, well cellars, tanker loading bay and storage areas are
located within spill containment bunds of either engineering brick or breeze block wall construction with
a concrete floor surface. All liquid materials, including crude oil and produced water are stored within
bunded areas of greater than 110% the largest container or 25% of the total number of containers, which
ever the largest. Storage vessels and associated bunding is designed and maintained to contain the material
stored. The site infrastructure is monitored and inspected on a daily basis (via the site operations manual),
with findings and corrective actions undertaken accordingly and recorded on site (as contained in the Site
Protection Monitoring Programme).
Blackland Park Exploration Limited
Incident rainfall on the bunded areas, together with any occasional small oil spillages (as appropriate) are
directed to either low points (“sumps”) within the bunds or to the well cellars. These are periodically
pumped to the storage tank for storage prior to transfer to the produced water tank for temporary storage
prior to re-processing or re-injection.
Non-production areas are surfaced with compacted hardcore over a plastic geosynthetic membrane.
Rainfall outside of the production areas flow to a drainage system located on two sides of the installation.
The surface water passes through an interceptor to remove any oil or grease collected from the surface,
and discharges at point W1
Combustion gases are the only potential atmospheric emission from the installation and this would only
ever be in an emergency situation as all produced gas is reused within the separation process. The natural
gas separated from the live crude oil within the three-phase separator, is utilised within as a primary fuel
source within the process heater. Due to inconsistencies regarding natural gas generation from the wells,
imported propane fuel is used as a secondary fuel source (support gas) for the process heater. Breathing
losses from the crude oil and produced water bulk storage tanks are exported via transfer lines to the on
site bath heater for combustion. The natural gas from the three-phase separator is transfer to the bath
heater for combustion.
Water use at the installation is limited to portable and domestic purposes as the processes undertaken do
not require water usage.
The only wastewater arising at the installation is as a result of incident rainfall, as detailed above, together
with liquid spillages (as appropriate) are directed to either low points (“sumps”) within the bunds or to
the well cellars and recovered via the produce water tank. The resultant water is then re injected with the
process water.
The installation has minimal energy use, principally limited to the electricity for the “Nodding Donkeys”
oil pump motor, oil and “produced water” transfer pumps and road tanker transfer pump motors.
Propane is used on site to support the natural gas usage for the process heater and hot water wash boiler.
There is minimal waste production on the installation. The plant typically operates continually with only
maintenance stoppages. During operation, there are typically only small amounts of wastes generated, as
a result of maintenance activities (e.g. oily wastes such as rags and empty containers for lubricants and
waste oils). These are placed in a skip on site and removed on a regular bases by a licenced waste
processor.
With respect to noise, operations undertaken at the installation give no reasonable cause for offence or
annoyance. The installation manages vehicle movements in accordance to local planning conditions.
Odour occurrence from the generation of Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) is minimised by dosing the crude oil
lines prior to separation with H2S scavenger. Natural gases are combusted within the process heater and
are vented directly to atmosphere.
Blackland Park Exploration Limited